Veritas of the Dark

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A man who appeared out of nowhere to attack the Earth Shrine and destroy its crystal. He then led an army of monsters in an attack on Grandshelt. Clad in armor as black as a starless night, none have seen the face beneath the mask. Styling himself one of the "Sworn Six of Paradia," he seeks the destruction of the world's crystals for reasons none can fathom. All that can be gleaned from his cryptic words is that he is clearly possessed of a burning anger and unwavering determination in his quest.

—In-game description

Veritas of the Dark, known in Japanese as Vellious of the Everdark, is the main antagonist for a majority of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius season one. A mysterious figure clad in armor, he leads the Sworn Six of Paladia. Although the identity was held by a previous owner, it is used by a new individual who leads the group in its quest for vengeance.

Veritas is cruel and merciless, spreading destruction and chaos without an ounce of remorse or restraint. He harbors resentment and desires for vengeance against those who betrayed him. He justifies his actions by viewing others as ignorant of the facts surrounding their desire for revenge.

He has a lighter side, as seen when he worries about Rain's safety, albeit for undisclosed motives. He is merciful enough to heal both his companion and Lasswell from fatal injuries despite having no obligation to aid his enemy, but does so out of a sense of chivalry.

He is a trusted leader who puts his comrades' safety over their quest. While displaying initial overconfidence on his strength, he is not arrogant enough to not know when to retreat. When Veritas of the Light is defeated with her armor destroyed, Veritas of the Dark gets into such a rage his darkness amplifies as it was the strength of his heart, revealing a possibility he loves her. He even saves her from Sol and Behemoth's attacks by sacrificing his life.

700 years ago when Paladia was split into two factions, he served Aldore against Hess. The man known as Raegen used the mantle of Veritas of the Dark, leading the then Eight Sworn of Paladia during the war. Raegen wanted to end the war quickly and force negotiations between nations, and thus he and his comrades sealed Hess' Eight Sages into Crystals, which made them the strongest unit in the world.

He along the rest of his comrades, and several other individuals and places from Paladia, were transported into the world of Lapis, as the leaders of Aldore feared them. Feeling betrayed, the group now resents the leaders they once served.

Close to 600 years later, Veritas of the Light and her sister found a book that described how to return to their world to have their revenge. Raegen and Sakura deserted the group, deciding to lead a peaceful life in Lapis, discarding their suits of armor.

The remaining five members worked on the plot on their own until Light tried to recruit Raegen once more. The latter refused and a battle ensued that ended with Raegen's wife and Light's target of envy, Sophia, killed by accident. Light, desperate that her unrequited love would never be, summoned a Vision of Raegen during the war of Paladia. She used it as a substitute for the real Veritas of the Dark, while concealing the details from the rest of the group who believed he was the original all along.

Veritas is confronted by Rain and Lasswell at the Earth Shrine at the Earth Crystal, saying their ignorance is their sin. He claims to end the world before defeating both easily and destroys the Crystal. He exits the Shrine and destroys the heroes' airship, killing the crew.

Veritas assaults the Castle of Grandshelt with an army of monsters. Rain and Lasswell barely rescue the King, and encounter Veritas accompanied by hooded figures. As he prepares to strike them, Fina, imprisoned in Crystal, appears from the Castle's ground and shields them from Veritas's attack. Veritas deems their mission in Grandshelt done, declares himself Veritas of the Dark of the Six Sworn of Paladia, and retreats.

In Lanzelt Ruins Veritas of the Dark finds a mysterious statue. He breaks it, calling it is the vessel of Paladia. He declares to himself that both ignorance and the world will soon end. Rain, Lasswell and Fina confront him in battle. While the trio at first bests him, Veritas unleashes his true power and easily defeats them. Fina has lost her memories, but Veritas pays it no mind, as he's confident she will soon remember, and leaves.

Later it is revealed Veritas of the Dark had met with Dr. Lazarov and told him about Rain and his friends.

Veritas of the Dark is aboard the airship The Invincible, which became operational after Veritas of the Heavens destroyed the Wind Crystal. Heavens appears on the airship, weakened and with his mask destroyed after facing Rain and his company. He berates himself for letting them know of his identity. Dark reassures him that it is of no consequence as they will never know the truth. Their conversation is interrupted by Veritas of the Waters who mocks Heavens for his mistake and offers to "fix" his errors. She borrows the Sacred Ring of Paladia from Dark and enacts her plan.

After Veritas of the Waters is defeated, Veritas of the Dark wanders on a road surrounded by cherry blossoms until his path disappears before him. Sakura appears behind him and calls him "Raegan", recognizing his armor. He asks if she's prepared to die, but Sakura tries to convince "Raegan" that he should forget his revenge against Paladia and that "he" decided to live in peace with his lover 700 years ago. Dark denies these allegations. She realizes she mistook Dark for somebody else, but is confident he cannot defeat her. Dark reveals he carries the Sacred Ring and unleashes an attack, but Sakura banishes before it can land. Veritas of the Dark is positive he will kill her the next time they meet.

Veritas of the Dark appears at the Fire Shrine after the party, with the aid of Lasswell's Purple Lightning blade, defeat Veritas of the Flame, leaving Flame injured and Lasswell at the verge of dying due to previous injuries. Dark restores both to full health, believing it a waste if a fine warrior as Lasswell were to die there. The two pairs battle and Rain and Lasswell defeat both Veritas, which causes Dark to consider he should treat the party more seriously, as they can potentially hinder their plans now, and they retreat.

Dark is later seen with Flame and Heavens, the latter who was able to take the Invincible back from Lazarov's theft. Veritas of Flame asks if he fought Rain and his friends, but he gives a negative answer, as his priority was to retrieve the airship. Flame chastises Heavens for his lack of guts. Frustrated, he tells Heavens he would have come so as to settle the score over his previous defeat. Dark stops him and reminds him that they have greater goals, and that triumphing in battle over them is a small victory in comparison. Flame agrees that he's getting too passionate and Dark reassures him that their goals are close to fruition as they witness a set of land crack before them.

The original Veritas of the Dark appears in multiple instances in the memory world conjured by Sakura, as Rain and his party recollect the Sworn Six of Paladia's past to learn the truth of the events while attempting to save Fina.

Following Light's and Earth's defeat in the Mysidia Tower, Dark orders them to retreat. He promises to Rain that the Sworn Six will achieve their goal, and once that happens everything dear to Rain will perish. Rain in turn vows to stop him.

Dark reminisces about Veritas of the Frost and his disobedience before the final battle against the Eight Sages. Flame asks if he didn't stop Frost before, fearing that any battle could have put his plan in danger. Dark affirms and doubts that the Frostlord perished as neither his armor or remains were ever found.

Veritas of the Dark leads the group to a laboratory owned by Lazarov with equipment that increases life force. Dark encourages the group to enter the capsules to strengthen their suits of armor, to fight Rain's party one final time with increased chances of success.

The Sworn Six, now empowered, appear before Rain's group after they fight the Frostlord. The group notices their old comrade and attempt to convince him to switch sides. The man under the armor is none other than Raegen, leaving the group baffled at who they have been following all this time.

Veritas of the Dark faces his original with the Frostlord's armor. Although he injures Raegen, he feigns weakness to assault Dark. As he attempts to discover his identity, the Lightlord interferes, desperate to prevent the truth from leaking. Raegen defeats Veritas of the Light, but this causes Dark's desire to protect her to empower him and defeat Raegen.

Rain's party catches up to Raegen who tells them to pursue the Darklord and Lightlord. Both parties reach the Dark Crystal and a final battle ensues. The party narrowly defeats the Darklord. Light removes his helmet to treat to his injuries, revealing the truth of his identity. Light confesses she did what she did out of love for Raegen, who is happy to know her feelings.

Before the party can celebrate, the Dark Crystal is destroyed by Sol and Behemoth K, two of Hess' Sages. Sol is disgusted at life and calls the party unsightly, blasting them with a Holy Spell.

The group is divided, but the Darklord shields Light from the blast. He is killed by the Behemoth.

Veritas of the Dark's job is listed as Veritas. His roles are Physical Damage and Support. He starts with a rarity of 5★ and can be upgraded to 6★. His equipment is vast, capable of equipping Daggers, Swords, Greatswords, Katanas, Axes, Spears, Heavy Shield, Helmet, Light Armor, Heavy Armor and Accessories. His Trust Master Reward "Sworn Six's Pride - Dark" bestows increased ATK while equipping a Greatsword and Heavy Armor.

Veritas of the Dark's skill arsenal focuses on inflicting physical damage around the Dark element. He is one of the most powerful units due to his great passives that grant him massive ATK boosts as well as being an effective chainer on par with Orlandeau, who is often considered top tier. He can bestow himself with the Dark Element if he lacks a Dark weapon, allowing him to capitalize with his other abilities. His support skills revolve around damage mitigation and status ailment prevention, as well as hampering enemies' Dark resistance and stats. His Limit Burst, Seal of Conviction, can inflict major damage on top of being an excellent chain building attack. He can use Black Magic up to Lv 8.

Veritas of the Dark is faced as a boss at the end of Lanzelt Ruins. Although not overly difficult, the player should be prepared with at least two healers. Veritas can attack two to three times per turn inflicting major physical damage with Sweep, Fingersnap and Tranquility. He also casts Gravity. The first battle ends when he is brought to critical, at which point he end the battle with Condemned Seal.

He is fought again at the Fire Shrine alongside Veritas of the Flame. He usually uses Graviga as the duo's first move, and later uses Shadow Wall to buff himself and Flame. He battles in the same fashion as his last encounter but doesn't use Condemned Seal and casts Graviga, which is his only move during the turn he casts it.

To get his game entry, Veritas of the Dark must be defeated once more by replaying "Lanzelt Ruins - Interior", as another boss replaces him during the exploration mission. This time he must be defeated and the battle continues even after he uses Condemned Seal.

His Empowered version is the last boss of the first half of the Pharm chapter. Veritas of the Dark has 350,000 HP, the highest at this point of the story, and uses a simple, but still deadly pattern of attacks. At every turn he will buff himself with Nonpareil to increase his ATK and employ Seal of Conviction, which deals massive Dark elemental damage to the party and dispels their buffs (in that order). He also occasionally uses a normal attack.

Dispelling the Darklord's buff is useless as he will always reuse them at the start of a turn. However, debuffing him still works provided the stat break outdoes the benefit of Nonpareil. Rain's Undermine is stronger by 10% of difference. Furthermore, since Seal of Conviction deals damage before the dispel, defensive buffs are effective as they mitigate the damage. Sakura's Thunder's Protection halves Dark damage and if enhanced also provides another heal. The player can use other defensive or offensive buffs to further reduce the damage or increase their offensive power, although they'll have to reapply the buffs every turn.

Since reapplying buffs, other than Thunder's Protection, can be taxing in MP, not to mention a potential waste of turns, the player should come prepared with high Defensive equipment, or Materia, and boost their HP as much as possible. Since offensive buffs won't last, a good idea to damage Dark could be through chains.